The keys to success: Klepper’s has secured and unlocked York for more than a century

Since 1940, the shop at 117 East King Street has been called Klepper’s.

A giant key-shaped sign juts out from the second story, reading, “Klepper’s Key Shop.” That was the shop’s original name — but technically, it’s called “Klepper’s Security Source” today.

Yet, to many Yorkers, it’s simply “Klepper’s.” The name has stuck over the years — and outlived founder Charles E. Klepper. In fact, there’s no longer a Klepper employed by Klepper’s. But the locksmithing tradition lives on — and has given rise to a slate of additional services that Charles Klepper never could have predicted a century ago.

The first keys

It was 1920 when Klepper founded the original locksmithing business, first located in the Barnett Bobb log house at the intersection of Pershing and College Avenue.

The Roaring ‘20s were a time of great prosperity in America. In a black and white photograph, Klepper poses, one hand on his hip, beside his “company car” — a 1924 Chevrolet Touring Car, a sign tacked onto the side, reading, “Keys made to order, locks repaired, Klepper’s Key Shop.”

The business moved to its present-day location in 1940, where it’s remained for 84 years. Today, when you step inside Klepper’s, it looks much like it would have in 1940. Rows and rows of silver and brass keys line the back wall, hanging on custom-made cabinetry with pegs. They’re ready to be cut for customers needing spare keys for any type of lock — houses, cars, trunks, chests and lock boxes. To this day, customers can walk in and have keys made to order.

Charles Klepper eventually sold the business to Frank Busch. By 1982, Mike Dennis and John Trone were graduating from Dover Area High School and trying to figure out their career paths. They joined the business as part-timers, “just as a side job,” Trone said.

“I enjoyed coming in here — it was interesting because it was something different every day — and still is,” said Trone, because “the technology and products keep changing.”

He’s seen the business evolve in leaps and bounds since 1982.

“Back then, we were only doing locksmith services — keying locks, doing auto work, helping people who locked their keys inside their cars,” said Trone, 59, adding, “We don’t do that much, anymore.”

When Busch retired in 2000, he approached Dennis and Trone with the opportunity to purchase the business.

“We both thought it made sense for us to take it over when he retired,” said Trone.

Keeping the Klepper name was, well, key.

“It’s such a well-known name, an established business with good relationships — to us, it was important,” Trone said.

Job security

Today’s locksmithing services intersect with security systems. Setting up entry to residential and commercial properties includes access control systems, fire systems, video intercoms and surveillance. Many are linked to cloud-based systems. Klepper’s can even install biometric locks — which open, not with keys, but with the touch of a fingerprint. Company reps keep Klepper’s employees up-to-date on the latest technology via training.

Yet, everything old is new again. Historic homes and properties are among Klepper’s customers, and “we provide services for customers that you won’t find elsewhere, such as old door hardware,” Trone says with a smile.

And that’s something Klepper’s has continued over its century of service — providing unique keys to customers with unusual or historic locks.

Trone’s own brother, restoring a 1943 Chevy van, needed help creating door keys. And old wooden cigar box held the key. That’s right — Trone searched through cigar boxes from Charles Klepper’s era, and like a needle in a haystack, there were two keys he could cut and retrofit to his brother’s 81-year old vehicle. Klepper’s can still cut keys to other vintage cars including Edsels.

Customers often come in with lock boxes, safes or trunks that they’ve inherited — locked — without a clue about the location of the keys.

“It’s a challenge, and it’s rewarding when you get it open. Everybody’s hoping for money and diamonds” inside, Trone said with a laugh. Instead of a treasure trove, those boxes are often empty, he said, although sometimes they hold important papers like wills or property deeds — and once in a while, there are indeed valuables inside.

Co-owner Mike Dennis remembers when one of their skilled employees saved Valentine’s Day.

‘Twas the night before Valentine’s Day, when Klepper’s got the call. A Dauphin County jewelry store realized their customers’ jewelry — intended for sweethearts the next day — was so securely locked in their jewelry safe that they couldn’t get it open.

“We have one employee who’s really good with safes,” Dennis said. “He had it open within an hour. The jewelry had been locked in, for the holiday, but the lock went bad.”

Klepper’s skilled “lock man,” Don Myers, has even been featured in the trade publication Safe Magazine, for his work restoring a rare circular antique safe, inside York’s landmark Continental Square building — which housed First National Bank in the 1920s.

“He took every piece out of it and refinished it,” said Dennis. “It’s rare — a round vault door is rare.”

Today’s going rate for Klepper’s services is $85 per hour. Compare that to $8.50 per hour during Charles Klepper’s era. An old but undated mimeographed rate card lists prices, including skate keys for 25 cents and clock keys for 75 cents. Today’s keys range from $1.88 to $25.

But one of the most important numbers in the company’s journey happened, without its due fanfare, during the pandemic. Klepper’s 100th anniversary plans for 2020 were put on hold — and never materialized.

Still, to reach 100 years and beyond, “is very satisfying — obviously we’re doing something right, and I think it comes down to great employees and customer service,” Trone said.

Community on lock

Klepper’s has a strong customer base throughout the Mid-Atlantic Region, having forged relationships with Kinsley Properties, the York Housing Authority, WellSpan’s properties division and the PA Housing Finance Agency.

The key to small business success, said Trone, is getting involved and giving back to the community – especially through nonprofit organizations, and focusing on providing the best customer service possible.

For his part, Trone has donated security systems to the United Way as giveaways, then followed through with free installation for the winners. When Kinsley Properties does nonprofit work, Klepper’s often follows their lead and offers free installation of locks and security systems.

As for the future of his industry, Trone predicts “more technology for sure — that keeps evolving very fast — more wireless locks, more cloud-based stuff, and more mobile apps.”

Trone and Dennis plan on sticking around to see the continued evolution of locksmithing. When they first joined the company, they were two of Klepper’s six full-time employees; today, Klepper’s employs 15.

“We still have some years,” said Trone. “I’m not planning on retiring anytime soon — I’m having too much fun.”

What would Charles Klepper say, if he could see the changes in locksmithing, beyond traditional keys and locks?

Trone said, “He probably wouldn’t believe it.”

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Klepper’s Security Source has served York PA for more than a century